La Fuente hit with federal wage complaint

About 60 current and former servers at a popular Milwaukee restaurant claim in a federal class action lawsuit that they were not paid the minimum wage, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin wage and hour laws.

The lawsuit contends that La Fuente did not start paying workers the required minimum $2.33 an hour until after each server's first customer had been seated, though the workers were required to come in well before that time to roll silverware, set tables and otherwise ready the business.

The suit names La Fuente and owners Jose Zarate and Elva Navejar, and claims the wage violations occurred at the La Fuente restaurants on Milwaukee's south side and in Waukesha. The La Fuente website lists a third location in Wauwatosa.

The complaint also says workers had to pay for drinks customers said were incorrect, and cover the bills of anyone who left without paying. Workers must also buy their own uniforms, order pads and name tags.

Each of these instances of La Fuente pushing its operating expenses onto its servers amounts to a deduction that is illegal when the servers’ wages fall below the minimum wage” said Larry Johnson, an attorney with Hawks Quindel who is representing the workers.

The complaint also claims all La Fuente servers must contribute tips to a pool that is later divvied up among workers, even when no host, bartender or busser -- positions normally paid from a share of tips -- are working, and that "upon information and belief" the restaurants' managers keep a portion of the tips left for servers.

In the end, not being paid for work prior to customers' arrivals and the improper distribution of tips left the workers earning less than the federal minium wage of $7.25 an hour, the suit claims.

Attorneys for the La Fuente servers note that Fair Labor Standards Act violations are not uncommon at restaurants, and cite two recent Milwaukee area settlements of similar claims.

Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act in the restaurant industry are not isolated incidents. In December, Ginza Japanese Restaurant in Wauwatosa paid $69,967 to settle minimum wage violation claims by two servers and in February. In February, Meyer’s Family Restaurant in Greenfield agreed to pay its employees $116,102 in response to a US Department of Labor investigation into unpaid overtime

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